Scientists in the U.S. and India have found an inexpensive treatment that could possibly save hundreds of thousands of newborns each year.
And it turns out, the secret weapon was sitting in Asian kitchens all along: probiotic bacteria that are common in kimchi, pickles and other fermented vegetables.
Feeding babies the microbes dramatically reduces the risk newborns will develop sepsis, scientists report Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Sepsis is a top killer of newborns worldwide. Each year more than 600,000 babies die of the blood infections, which can strike very quickly.
“All the sudden the baby stops being active. It stops crying and breastfeeding,” says Dr. Pinaki Panigrahi, a pediatrician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, who led the study.
“By the time the mother has a chance to bring the baby to the hospital, the baby dies,” he says. “In hospitals in India, you see so many babies dying of sepsis, it breaks your heart.”
Read more about the discovery from NPR
More about Dr Pinaki Panigrahi:
Director of Center For Global Health and Development
Professor, Department of Epidemiology, and Pediatrics
University of Nebraska Medical Center
College of Public Health
Professional Summary
- 2010-Present Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Director Center for Global Health and Development, UNMC
- 1997-2010 Associate Professor with tenure, Department of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, UMB
- 1993-1996 Assistant Professor, tenure track, Department of Pediatrics, UMB
- 1989-1992 Fellow, Division of Infectious Diseases/Center for Vaccine Development, UMB
- 1986-1987 Teaching Fellow, Hybridoma Technology Resource Center, Univ of Maryland, College Park
- 1985-1989 Guest Researcher, Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland
- 1985-1989 Graduate Research Assistant, Microbiology Laboratories, Univ of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
- 1981-1982 Post Graduate Pediatrics Clinical Training, MKCG Medical College Hospital, India
- 1982-1984 Post Graduate Pediatrics Clinical Training, SVP Post Graduate Institute of Pediatrics, Cuttack, India
Education
- PhD Microbiology, University of Maryland, College Park, 1989
- MD Medicine, MKCG Medical College, India, 1981
- ISc Pre-Med, B.J.B. College, Bhubaneswar, India, 1976